The SFA have outlined plans for this season ahead of the big start featuring Celtic this weekend.
As we told you earlier, two referees have stepped back from on-field duties to focus on VAR as the governing body make changes to their operations.
They released details in a statement on Thursday morning, and then had Head of Referee Operations Crawford Allan appear on Sky Sports.
In a pretty enlightening chat that they should probably look to repeat more than once a year, Allan went in depth on the VAR changes, including a new independent panel and quicker decision making.
He was also asked about the crackdown on time-wasting that seems to be going through football at the moment. His answer was that the SFA would be taking things more seriously this season.
“As we saw last year in the World Cup, there were guidelines given to the referee to include adding time for goal celebrations,” Allan said.
“That is now being added in to Law 7, and we’ve covered it with referees and said ‘make sure you get the time added on.’
“The referees will time that, a bit like a substitute, and then add that.
“I do think we’re going to see six, seven, eight minutes possibly added on at the end of halves that maybe had two or three goals, subs, an injury, maybe a VAR delay.
“That’s going to be managed a little bit more proactively.”
So it’s fair to say you can expect to see longer Celtic matches this season. The days of 3pm kick-offs finishing just after 4:45pm will be over, we may be looking at well after 5pm some weeks.
It will be interesting to find out just how notable this change is in the early weeks of the season. Will we have 7 or 8 minutes of added time at the end of a half this weekend, or will that only occur during action-filled matches?
If Celtic are scoring multiple goals, especially late on in games, we may be getting used to large numbers being held up by the fourth official.
Allan also mentioned something we touched on recently: the SPFL making the multi-ball system mandatory for top-flight clubs. Previously, it was optional.
“The clubs are being encouraged and instructed to get the balls returned at the same speed to both teams,” he said.
Let’s see if things play out that way when Celtic are on the road.
In other news, UEFA’s homegrown quota rules and what they mean for Celtic this season
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